1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the field of movable roof panels on automotive vehicles and more specifically to the area of providing electrical energy directly to such panels.
2. Background Information
The use of movable roof panels (sometimes referred to as sunroofs or moonroofs) on automotive vehicles is quite common and several prior art mechanisms and switches are known to provide electro/mechanical movement to open and close the panels. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,141 and 4,468,063 describe the use of an electric motor and a mechanical linkage to move a sunroof panel between a fully closed and a fully retracted position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,691 describes a safety device which detects an overload of the driving mechanism due to foreign objects being caught in the mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,056,628 describes a switching device which is disposed at the forward edge of the roof opening so that when a sliding panel on the roof is fully closed, the switch will be closed. This is used for completing an electrical circuit which inhibits the drive voltage applied to the closing motor.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,806 describes an electric current supply device which includes a set of pivotally-mounted, spring-loaded collector shoes carried by the movable roof panel. The collector shoes are electrically connected to an electric motor mounted on the panel and are constantly urged by a resilient device to make contact with a current supplying side bar that is fixed to the nonmovable structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,025 discloses a power operated sunroof with a pair of position switches which determine the locked position of the sunroof and control the polarity of energization to the motor for correct driving direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,895 describes the use of liquid crystal materials in various zones of a light transmitting sunroof in order to control the amount of light transmitted through the panel.